The building of a new prison in the Northern Territory has been labelled an "expensive and misguided" approach to the overcrowding crisis.

Since being elected last year under a "tough on crime" mantra, the new CLP government has enacted sweeping bail laws, increasing the number of inmates in NT prisons dramatically, with 2,822—more than one per cent of the NT's population.

This week, in line with a pre-election promise, the government announced they were in negotiations with Charles Darwin University (CDU) to open a prison work camp at a farm near Katherine.

"Some of those boot camp and work camp prisoners will be able to go … learn some everyday skills that Territorians have to make a better life," Corrections Minister Gerard Maley told the ABC.

"To be able to house low and open restricted prisoners there, and offer that Sentenced to a Skill program, using the CDU research farm as a facility to offer that program."

However the plan has been criticised as a misguided attempt to reduce chronic overcrowding because of the government's focus on pushing more people into prison.

It comes as part of the government allocating $495 million directly to the Department of Corrections in the upcoming budget.

Just $4.2 million has been allocated for domestic and family violence programs.

Justice Reform Initiative (JRI) executive director Dr Mindy Sotiri said while responding to overcrowding was vital, the solution was not throwing people into prison in the first place.

"Building new prisons is like placing an ambulance at the bottom of a cliff. It does nothing to address the structural and systemic issues that are pushing people into prison in the first place," she said.

Experts have long warned new punitive laws in the NT – including lowering the age of criminal responsibility - won't make the community safer, instead only increasing the prison population, which has expanded by more than 500 since the CLP came into power last year.

More than half of the prisoners in the NT - just under 90 per cent of whom are Indigenous - are on remand, and therefore don't as a rule of thumb, receive rehabilitative treatment, including access to drug and alcohol, and family violence, programmes.

Overcrowding in cells has led to calls for the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to visit the NT.

Last month, independent MP Yiŋiya Mark Guyula said prison is just "one tool in the toolbox" to dealing with crime.

"If we do not address the underlying issues of crime, this method of locking people up in overcrowded cells with no genuine rehabilitation will only make our communities less safe as people become hardened criminals. This is what we are seeing now," the Yolŋu man said.

He argued consecutive governments had "failed to work with elders and leaders and implement community-led solutions".

"Over decades, governments have taken decision-making power and resources away from our Elders, and until they give it back, we are stuck watching this crisis unfold from the sidelines," Mr Guyula said.

"We feel helpless and ignored by the Government as they side-step the leaders and do what they think is right for us, instead of seeking out community-led solutions."

JRI's NT Coordinator Kirsten Wilson said the feasibility and long-term impact of the proposed Katherine facility and its suitability to host rehabilitation programs were questionable.

"It's very unclear how this new prison would be staffed or operated, and based on what we know of the NT corrections system, the idea that this facility will be genuinely rehabilitative and reduce reoffending is a fantasy," she said.

"With such high rates of recidivism in the Territory, we have to ask: why would this be any different?